page_title: Barnabe Googe
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Barnabe Googe / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Scotney Castle. This is a photo of listed building number 1085287.
context_page_description: Barnabe Googe or Goche was a poet and translator, one of the earliest English pastoral poets.
context_section_description: Barnabe Googe, born 11 June 1540 (St Barnabas Day), in Alvingham, Lincolnshire, was the son of Robert Googe (d. 5 May 1557) of Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, Recorder of Lincoln during the reign of Queen Mary, son of John Goche of London and Newland, Gloucestershire, in the Forest of Dean, by Jane Bridges, daughter and heir of James Bridges of the Forest of Dean. His mother was Margaret Mantell (d.1540), the daughter of Sir Walter Mantell (d.1529) of Nether Heyford, Northamptonshire, by Margaret Wood (d.1577), one of the daughters and coheirs of Oliver Wood, esquire. Margaret Wood married twice after the death of Sir Walter Mantell (d.1529). Her second husband was Sir William Haute (d.1539) of Bishopsbourne, Kent, whose daughter, Jane Haute (d. in or after 1595), was the wife of the rebel, Thomas Wyatt. Margaret Wood's third husband was Sir James Hales. Googe's mother died when he was six weeks old, and according to Lyne, he 'was probably brought up in Kent by his grandmother, Lady Hales'.
  By his father's second marriage to Ellen Gadbury, widow of a husband surnamed Parris, and daughter of a London goldsmith, he had a half brother, Robert Googe. By licence dated 21 May 1563, Ellen (née Gadbury) married William Burnell (d.1570), esquire, of Winkburn, Nottinghamshire, Auditor to Henry VIII. It is said that Googe 'came to dislike his stepmother intensely'.
  At his father's death on 5 May 1557, Googe inherited the manor of Horkstow and the lands of Alvingham Priory in Lincolnshire, and a house in London formerly owned by his grandfather. He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge and at New College, Oxford, but does not seem to have graduated from either. He became a ward of the Queen, and it appears his wardship remained unsold until January 1561, when his kinsman, William Cecil, became Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and Googe was allowed to purchase his own wardship for £80, payable over an eight-year term. On 26 June 1563 he was granted licence to enter on his lands. In his will Googe's father had requested his executors to have Googe educated at the Inns of Court, and by 29 March 1560 he was a member of Staple Inn, at the time associated with Gray's Inn, where his cousin, William Lovelace, held the position of Reader in 1562 and 1567. Another of Googe's associates at the Inns of Court was his cousin, Alexander Neville, of Gray's Inn.
  In a letter dated 1 October 1563, Cecil referred to Googe as his 'servant' and 'near kinsman'. According to Barrett, there is no record of the position he occupied in Cecil's household apart from reference to him as a retainer and the fact that he was present on special occasions such as the Queen's visit to Theobalds in 1572, when he was 'placed high on the list of servants' and referred to as the first server for the first meal'. Previous authorities claimed that he became a gentleman pensioner to Queen Elizabeth, but this has been disproved. Nonetheless Googe did have close associations with the court through his relationship to Cecil. He exploited this important connection in the years that followed, and Cecil extended patronage towards his young protégé. It may have been due to Cecil's encouragement that Googe accompanied the Elizabethan humanist scholar Sir Thomas Challoner on a diplomatic embassy to Spain in 1562.
  Googe had begun writing poetry, and found himself in an exciting creative coterie with other young writers, such as Jasper Heywood and George Turberville. During his absence in Spain, Googe's juvenile poems were sent to the printer by a friend, Laurence Blundeston. On his return, Googe learned of Blundeston's actions and reluctantly gave his consent to their publication when he discovered that the printer had already paid for the paper for the print run and the composition was underway. The book appeared in 1563 as Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonettes, with a dedication to William Lovelace. Before the appearance of his book, no writer in England had ever published his own poetry under his own name; in this, Googe was an accidental pioneer.
caption: Tudor revival house at Scotney Castle which replaced the home of Googe's wife, Mary Darrell
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